Blogs |
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| Opinion |
| By Ashok Row Kavi |
 One of the most common problems I've faced as a community counselor is of married gay men and their issues. I still remember a young married man who wished to know how to "balance" his life with a wife at home and a male lover in the army, of all things. |
| Special Report |
| By Vasanthi Hariprakash |
 Huligamma laughs when I tell her that she should have been a 'fillim heroine'. The Narayanpet maroon sari with a green border drapes well around her head, the big red bindi standing out on her dusky forehead. The dozens of green bangles cling-clang on her arms as she adjusts the chains of black beads and gold around her slender neck. |
| Viewpoint |
| By Manvendra Singh Gohil |
 In a country where the law until recently criminalized homosexuality and where social ostracism is the biggest fear, it is not surprising that a majority of gay men get married to women. These fake relationships, built under social pressure, undoubtedly have their repercussions- forcing these men to lead dual lives. |
| A Reporter's Account |
| By Alok Pandey |
 I've been reading about Nitish Kumar's development agenda in newspapers and magazines. Bihar is changing, its becoming better, they say. I want to see for myself. January 6, 2009, is when I arrive in Patna. By first impressions, it doesn't seem too bad. The roads are wide, there are footpaths, the areas I go through on the way to office seem to be clean....definitely not the third world city I had imagined. Then, a moment of truth from my driver Mustkim... |
| Rajasthan Diary |
| By Harsha Kumari Singh |
 78-year-old Ganpat Meena greets us warmly, but as we take a walk through his fields we realise that his crop is almost finished. The bajra is just a foot above the earth, yes the recent rains have revived the shoots but they will be good only for animals, not for food grain. The irony is that Ganpat's village was once envied for its fertile fields. That was when the river Banas used to flow here. |
| Double Lives |
| By Sutapa Deb |
 Last month the Delhi High Court overturned Section 377 of the IPC, which criminalised gay sex between consenting adults. It was a victory but the reality on the ground is slow to change and negativity around MSMs continues to exist.. They say that to belong to the mainstream, the straight world, and to maintain bonds with their families and community, they are compelled to marry. |
| Harsh Realities |
| By Kashish Gupta |
 I'm sitting on a charpai surrounded by angry villagers vociferously claiming they were being more and more marginalised in a state where for decades they have supported the Bahujan Samaj Party (a party built on their support - support of the Dalits) - they voted en masse for Mayawati in the Assembly elections of 2007 and she became Chief Minister - but that has still meant nothing for them - they are still the POOREST of the lot! |
| First-Hand Account |
| By Rohit Bhan |
 Praveen Patel and his wife Naina Patel were the 12th and 13th swine flu cases in Gujarat. Their relative Amrutbhai, right outside the ward in a pensive mood, hoping that the H1N1 virus was just another virus. He didnt want to loose Praveen to a 'stupid' virus, he told me trying to be cheereful. After all Praveen had left India 20 years back to carve out a better future for himself. Borrowed money to immigrate to US and begin a life from scratch. He ran a small grocery store and was happily married with three teenage children - two daughters and a son. He had left Atlanta on July 31 along with his wife to meet his family members. But now he could never return home, the first casualty of swine flu from Gujarat. |
| Reporting from Ground Zero |
| By Imtiaz Jaleel |
 On the night of August 3, Reeda Shaikh a 14-year-old from a school located miles away from those already affected became the first victim of swine flu. Her death is still mired in controversies over alleged lapses on the part of a private hospital keeping the local health authorities in the dark and another one issuing a certificate saying that she was negative after testing her sample, when the hospital was not even authorised to do so. |
| Hidden Agenda |
| By Uma Sudhir |
 The journey of being a journalist is not just about what you report. Often it is a lot more about what you don't get to report. So much that you stumble upon remains unsaid. Not just because, specially in television, you need to measure your sentences and words to the last second. Not only because in the race for eyeballs and TRPs, sometimes the essence of journalism, and sometimes the larger picture may get blurred. It is not always a conspiracy by vested interests to hide the truth. It is often a little of all this and more. Journalism some may say is a road to nowhere. But I have fallen in love with it. Because it is always a journey of discovery, where the experiences of the journey are almost as invaluable as the outcome. What is not said, not seen, not heard or not felt doesn't exist. That has been our understanding of truth. 'Hidden Agenda' is an attempt to tell truths that sometimes defy the definition. |
The government has said the jawans would be hosted temporarily at a police station nearby.
